Monday, June 11, 2007

Turning Over a New Leaf, or Playing Us for Fools?

In a telephone interview with Barbara Walters, Paris Hilton said something that shocked me. She not only invoked the name of God in a respectful manner, but...she sounded sincere! Although she spent only a couple of days in jail so far, it may have had a tremendous impact on her life.

One thing that struck me about Hilton's statement was that she said she was acting dumb and that it wasn't a good role model for young girls. Granted, she's not exactly Meryl Streep (as anyone who paid money to see the remake of "House of Wax" will attest). But she is right. She was acting like a dumb spoiled rich girl, and it does make for a horrible role model for anyone, not just girls.

But there's a part of me that isn't quite ready to promote Paris for sainthood yet. Part of being a celebrity in trouble these days is coming out with seemingly heartfelt apologies and promises to get on the straight and narrow. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me a few hundred times, I'm a candidate for the short bus. As sincere as she sounded, my inner cynic isn't quite ready to buy it yet.

Even so, it takes a lot to come forward and appear weak to a nation of media consumers. Whether it's a lot of courage or a lot of nerve is yet to be determined. I'm just hoping that Paris Hilton really has learned her lesson and will start acting more mature. Then, I can just drop in the name "Lindsey Lohan" into my Paris Hilton jokes and recycle them. Who says I don't care about the Earth? :-)

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